Corruption
Corruption is both an individual and social disease. When an individual is involved in corruption, it is personal degradation and when a society or a nation is corrupt, it is social disgrace. When a person is corrupt it is a part of his personality. When a nation is corrupt, it is a part of national character.
When I was in the school, our teachers instructed us to practice handwriting. We wrote 10/12 pages that said, “ Soda sotto kotha bolibe”. It means “Always tell the truth.” Sometimes our assignments were English handwriting. We wrote 10/12 pages that said, “Honesty is the best policy.”
At that time all the students believed these moral statements. As they became adults, many of them could no longer accept these values to be true. They got different experiences from the society. They observed that people could not enjoy prestige, dignity, and honour for the honesty. Social prestige belongs to those who have money, gorgeous homes, beautiful cars etc. We are social beings. Social recognition is important to all of us. I am not blaming the society for giving importance to wealth. I ask myself, why the dishonest people are much wealthier than the honest people? Why the dishonest people enjoy more power than the honest people? Why are the dishonest people our political leaders? Ideally, the honest people should rule the society. I tried to understand the reasons for the defeat of good moral values. One of the reasons might be the social exploitation and frustrations. The school children look at one another’s tiffin box. Some eat costly fast food, others have very little cheap food. From their childhood, they start thinking about what others get, but they do not have.
The society is based on exploitation. Look at the physical labours of the rickshaw pullers or the factory workers. Are they getting appropriate price for their labours? No, they are exploited. Tensions and frustrations accumulate in them. Their children observe the situation and learn the cruelty of life. When they grow up and get chances to earn money by illegal means, they utilize the easy options. Actually, the seeds of corruption are sown at the grassroots levels. It is a vertical and horizontal chain.
Social inequality gets reduced when a country develops and the percentage of the poor people decreases. It requires money to sustain the moral values. The poverty pushes back the moral values. Recently, I gave a bath soap to my maidservant. She works part-time in my home. I told her to take the soap to her home. She lives in a nearby slum area. She said, “ No, madam, I want to keep the soap in your home. It will be stolen from my home. All the people around my home are very poor. Necessity knows no law. They will steal my soap”
Social inequality gets reduced when a country develops and the percentage of poor people decreases. It requires money to sustain the moral values. A poor person has a different definition of morality when his or her children are hungry. His morality then says that first of all, he should feed his hungry children.
Corruption emerges from a corrupt social culture as well. Bribery is a common practice in Bangladesh. These days, a polite term is used for a bribe, that is, tips. In the Government offices, files do not move from one table to another without a bribe. The Accountant General’s Office (AG) is infamous for bribery. After retirement, when the Government officers and the staff of the Government process their pension papers, they have to spend a large amount of money as bribes. If anyone has a long-pending bill, they will not get the payment without bribing the staff. When the contractors ask to clear their bills, the high officials demand a major share of the contractor’s payments. As a result, when the contractors do infrastructural work, they keep the cost of the work low to save the money for bribing the officers and the staff of the Government that causes the low quality of work. In the Government offices from the highest rank to the lowest level, many are involved in bribery. One of the reasons may be the income inequality. The salary structure is defective. The secretary’s salary may be twenty times higher than the peon’s salary. Sometimes, the lower ranking staff follow the high officials. They feel that there is no reason to deprive themselves when the high officials are enjoying the gains.
The political leaders are highly corrupt. During elections, politics is a business in Bangladesh. So, the corrupt politicians invest money in buying votes by taking chances of the people’s poverty. When they become ministers or members of the parliament, they want to make profits a thousand times more than their investments. I feel that no sense of patriotism exists among the politicians of Bangladesh. Another point is worth mentioning. They tell blunt lies to the public and those are shamelessly broadcast on the television channels. Is it not corruption? Is it not fraudulent behaviour?
In some countries, there are anti-corruption departments. These countries are Bangladesh, Myanmar, Burundi, Bhutan, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Austria etc.
It seems to me that these are artificial arrangements because corruption is a social problem. The root of this problem is a society. The causes may be poverty, inequality, injustice, deprivations, exploitations, frustrations, underdevelopment, maladministrations, lack of good governance, etc. We need to look at it horizontally.
If we look at the most corrupt and least corrupt countries, we will see that the least corrupt countries are the developed ones and the most corrupt countries are underdeveloped. For instance, the most corrupt countries are Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Yemen, Haiti, Chad, Cambodia, Myanmar, Angola, Laos, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, Burundi, Eritrea, Nepal, Congo, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria etc. The least corrupt countries are Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore etc.
It seems that the level of development has a connection with corruption. The people of the developed countries are less frustrated than the poor countries. They suffer little from inequality, injustice, deprivations, exploitation, maladministration etc. When the poor countries develop, their corruption practices get reduced.
It seems to me that the anti-corruption organizations are artificial. Let us see who work in these organizations. They are members of the corrupt countries and corrupt societies. Their attitudes and moral values emerged from the societies where they live in. They are very much part of the society. So, they cannot be the people of different personalities. In general, they share the same social, cultural and traditional values. They cannot be fair and neutral. Moreover, they work under pressure. The Government do not allow them to work independently. They are threatened if they exercise their legal powers and rights. Even their lives may be at risks. They are compelled to follow the dictations of the Government.
Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh came into force on 9 May 2004. I think it is not working well. The people of Bangladesh think that Anti-Corruption Commission is biased and manipulated by the Govt. Sometimes, they create very shameful examples. For instance, they start a case for Mr. X, but not for Mr Y. In their hands, justice is always discriminated, delayed and denied. The Bangladeshis think that they are not honest and committed to performing their duties. According to Global Financial Integrity Report (GFI), Bangladesh lost as much as $ 75.15 billion or Tk. 700 billion to trade inappropriate invoicing and other unrecorded outflows between 2005 and 2014.
A total of USD 101 million was stolen on 4 February 2016 from Bangladesh Bank’s reserves with the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York. USD 14.5 million was recovered from Sri Lanka and USD 14.5 million from the Philippines. Recovery of the remaining 72 million remains uncertain. The Philippines Government said that they would not return any money to Bangladesh.
People of Bangladesh say that this would not take place without a local conspiracy. These days it is easy to get information. I watch the television talk shows of the Bangladeshi TV channels regularly. Many of the participants at the talk shows say that the money was smuggled from Bangladesh for personal and political gains. In this regard, the anti-corruption commission did not play a positive role.
Taka 4000 crore is misappropriated from the nine Government Banks under cover of debt waivers. This money was drained out through an abuse of power between 2001 and 2008. The names of Sonali Bank, Basic Bank, Janata Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank etc, came in the newspapers.
Our Finance Minister said, “ The Farmers Bank was given the approval to issue a bond worth Taka 500 Crore. The bankers say that this loan was sanctioned in violation of banking norms and procedures. From the television talk shows, I understood that the loans of big amounts were approved under political consideration.
There were corruption cases against Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia during the caretaker Government of Fakhruddin and Moinuddin. When Awami League formed the Government, they withdrew all corruption cases against Sheikh Hasina amounting to Taka 150 billion, that is, Taka. 1,500 crore. They kept the cases of Begum Khaleda Zia alive. Now she is in the jail on account of punishment of five years with corruption charges of Taka 2 crore only. This amount is only 0.13% of the money Sheikh Hasina was charged with corruption. The Bangladeshis say that this is a conspiracy and done on purpose for the coming election only.
The fact is that the anti-corruption department is not free of corrupt practices due to political pressure and malpractice. Those who are working here, are the people of the corrupt society. It is not possible for them to fight the entire society. The Government machinery is corrupt too. Many of the bureaucrats and the administrators at all levels are corrupt.
Even for a petty work, we need to pay a bribe at each level.
The police force is corrupt. They are committing illegal activities under political pressure. When BNP was in the office, there was corruption too. Everyone is aware of Hawa Bhaban and Tarek Zia. At present, the corrupt banking practices are infamous. Our hard earned money is being smuggled. Who are the beneficiaries of this looting and robbery? There is no independent and honest investigation.
I feel that the only remedy for corruption is development. The GDP per capita (PPP) needs to be increased.
Reduction of poverty is an important factor. When there is less frustration, there will be less corruption. No anti-corruption department can reduce corruption. No one can work for anti-corruption in a corrupt society. It is awareness among the people that can free them from corruption.
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